Cops: Would-be robbers nabbed after restaurant owner says 'come back', and they do

Rosemary Regina SobolTribune reporter

Two men made it easy for authorities to catch them after they tried to hold up a West Rogers Park restaurant using a squirt gun but were told by the owner to return in an hour, officials said.

When Mario Garcia, 39, and Domingo Garcia-Hernandez, 28, went back to the restaurant on the 6400 block of North Claremont Avenue early Monday police quickly nabbed them, according to police and prosecutors.

The two men appeared in bond court today where Judge James Brown set bail at $25,000 for each man. They both live on the 2300 block of West Devon Avenue about a block away from the restaurant, authorities said.

The men were charged with one count of attempted aggravated robbery each, police said. Domingo Garcia-Hernandez was additionally cited with possession of a replica firearm, police said.

The men entered the restaurant late Sunday night and demanded food but when the owner told them he was too busy, Garcia Hernandez said: "I will kill you, I have a gun with me,’’ according to a police report.

Garcia-Hernandez, who is 4-foot-8 and 160 pounds, then displayed a “gun” that was partially concealed in a red T-shirt from under his jersey, police said.

The owner, concerned for the safety of his patrons, then asked them to come back in an hour, police said. So the duo fled eastbound through an alley. After they left, the owner called police and arrested the men at about 12:28 a.m. Monday when they returned an hour later – without the squirt gun.

Police found the “firearm’’ -- which turned out to be a black toy water pistol that appeared to be a replica of a MAC-10 machine pistol -- wrapped in the red T-shirt in their back yard of the suspects' home, police said.

Garcia had a metal baseball bat when he returned to the restaurant at the time he was arrested, police said.